Yep, they gave Girardi a three year deal worth $7.8 mil (a nearly $2 mil jump over what we expected). He'll get $2.5 mil a year, a $300,000 signing bonus and -- here's the insult -- $500,000 in incentives if the Yankees make the World Series. If Girardi signs on the dotted line, I don't ever want to hear incentives are insulting. It's not a big deal what Torre said -- and he later made clear if they had offered him two years, he would have taken the deal, insulting incentives and all (so clearly they weren't that insulting).
But what do you think about incentives? Personally, I do think they're absurd. Jeter makes $22 mil (or whatever) and he needs a BONUS for winning the Gold Glove or batting title or World Series MVP? Girardi needs a BONUS for getting to the World Series when that's his entire purpose? The only place I believe incentives make sense is with young players who are still under contract and can't negotiate yet. My team would do away with incentives completely. I'd pay them what they're worth and EXPECT them to play their heart out and do their best. What say you?
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I say low base pay and LOTS of incentives. Then these atheletes would perform like A-Rod did this year.
The only problem I see with incentitives is that players start playing for stats only... and if it's a team incentive (say $40,000 for making the playoffs) it only really effects the lowest paid players.
I don't know what you do for a living... but if someone told you that no matter how you perform, for the next five years you're going to earn X number of dollars, most people would slack off some up until it's time for a new evaluation. It's human nature, or the American way, to do the least possible to get by at a comfortable level. What you consider comfort though, is entirely up to you.
I don't think A-Rod had a good season because of the incentives if he won MVP, etc. And what dasnootz describes is exactly how most people work -- they get a salary and reaonably expect to keep their job by doing a certain level of work each year. I agree it's poisonous to have people keeping in mind stats -- Torre got a bonus for winning 90 games, than 95, then 100. How awful to be at the end of the season and knowing in the back of your mind that a "meaningless" game could mean an extra $250,000 or whatever. Or a player playing with an injured hamstring because they need one more game to get to a certain pay level. It's ridiculous. But as for incentive, I keep two things in mind -- once you're making millions, that extra little money starts to matter very little. And two, they're playing BASEBALL. It's a game and it's a game they love and it's a LOT more fun to play when you're winning. These are huge egos that yearn to win the World Series, be batting champ, etc. It's what they've worked for their whole lives. They don't need motivation to have fun. It just doesn't compare to pushing reams of paper around a desk for Dunder Mifflin; that ain't fun no matter what, but goofing off is. In sports, the most fun of all is winning. So who needs incentives?
I know I'd work harder if I had the chance to earn Schrute bucks at work...
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